For better or for worse?

In sickness and in health?

For richer or for poor?

How about for boom or for bust?

The housing market is forcing some divorced couples to live up to their wedding vows in a way they never could have imagined.

After a bitter breakup, when the only thing the ex-es have in common is the roof over their heads, parting can indeed become such sweet, sweet sorrow.

It's a lot like being trapped in a twisted, modern-day Shakespearean tragedy.

Some divorced couples, already drained by costs associated with ending a marriage, face the possibility of living together -- if only long enough to squeeze the most from their largest shared asset.

Blame the new phenomenon on the struggling housing market, says Janell Weinstein, a partner in the law firm of Federbusch & Weinstein, in Hackensack, NJ.

Weinsten says cohabitation after divorce may be a last resort for some, but for those facing soaring energy prices, higher food costs, the potential for pink slips and the ongoing need for child care, it could be their only option.

Shared shelter is perhaps one of the few areas where an embattled pair can find respite from financial woes, if only temporarily.

Weinstein recently examined the phenomenon of cohabitation after divorce for FirstWivesWorld.com, a website devoted to empowering female divorcees.

She says, in most cases, shacking up with the ex is housing of last resort. Two estranged people living under the same roof can lead to domestic disturbance over everything from overnight dates to the selling price necessary to move the home off the market.

And it can go on for weeks, months.

However, says Weinstein, while it may be impossible for you to imagine living with your spouse after you are divorced, it's a potential outcome you must consider in today's housing market.

Published: April 8, 2008

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.